GAIT: Getting Around Issaquah Together

I haven’t heard from many people about this week’s bike/ped counts, but here are the numbers I have. I’ll update this post if I get more.

This Friday, September 19 is PARK(ing) Day. This is the day when communities around the world take back a bit of their town that has been set aside for cars and turn it into a park.

That’s right, GAIT has partnered with our friends at artEAST to turn a parking space across Front Street from UP Front Gallery into a park for one day. The plan is to have (simulated) grass, (real) plants, (real) artists making (real) art, and a (real) bike rack.

There is more info about the event at the Issaquah PARK(ing) Day group page.

If you plan to stop by and enjoy the park, you can RSVP for the event.

If you can hang out at the park for an hour or two on Friday, keep an eye on things, and explain the concept to curious passers-by, fire me an email with your availability and I’ll coordinate. The park will be open from 5am to 9pm.

Tell your friends, and I hope to see you at the park!

Karen Behm has been working on a bike map for Issaquah for over a year now, and Tuesday afternoon the first edition came back from the printer! You can pick up your copy at the Visitor Center, Bicycle Center, or Veloce Velo. Or flag me down around town, I’ve got a stack in the trunk on my bike.

If you’d like to peer at it on your computer, you can download it right here as two big PDF files. One of 2.2MB for the map itself and another of a whopping 6.6MB for the back side with the notes, some ride directions, and other useful info.

But get a paper copy, it’s fabulous! And give Karen an attagirl next time you see her.

Big thanks to the City for funding this first printing out of the hotel room tax revenue. And big thanks to Councilman Fred Butler for cluing us in to that funding option.

Bob Miller will be guiding his famous Bridges of Issaquah bike ride starting at 6:30pm Wednesday 5/27 from the Community Center parking lot. If you haven’t been before this ride is an easy ramble around town suitable for all skill levels. If you have been before, let Bob know and he’ll mix things up for you.

Also Wednesday night 5/27, the city’s Resource Conservation Office is hosting their second Sustainability Movie night. This time they’re showing “Who Killed the Electric Car?” which despite its car-centric focus explores issues applicable to any “alternative” transportation in this country. The movie starts at 6:30pm at the KCLS Service Center building on Newport Way behind Target (not at the library!). I’ll be there talking to folks about GAIT, so be sure to come say hi.

This Saturday is the last Saturday of the month and that means it’s time for another Trash Walk. We’re going to return to an earlier site this time, so meet at the east side of the Community Center at 9am where we’ll tidy up along the trail that heads south from there. Bring gloves and wear blackberry-resistant clothing. Hand trimmers probably wouldn’t hurt.

Looking forward, Bob Miller will reprise his Fix a Flat class at the library on Tuesday June 9 at 6:30pm. Registration (required!) opens on June 1 through the library web page.

Can you believe it’s the last Saturday in March already?

This month we’re going to work on the boardwalk along SR900. Actually more _under_ the boardwalk.

We’ll start soon after 9am on Saturday (3/28). Meet at the service station at the corner of Gilman Blvd and SR900. We’ll work our way away from the freeway (South) from there. This will be another soggy one, so bring your mucky boots and gloves. I’ll be out there rain or shine. Cancel for sticking snow :-)

If you come to help and we’re nowhere in sight, give me a call and I’ll let you know what’s going on. My cell number is 425-503-6815.

Hope to see you!

This week’s Council Transportation Committee meeting has some walk/bike/bus stuff on the agenda. I plan to be there, but more citizen presence is always welcome at these things. There isn’t always a chance to provide direct input, but hearing the discussion can be instructive.

The meeting is at 5pm on Thursday 3/5 (yes, extremely inconvenient) at City Hall NW which is by the Holiday Inn up north of the freeway.

Here are the agenda items with approximate times (these pretty much always stretch) and notes from me about what the walk/bike/bus relevance is:

5:00 Newport way trail oakcrest to lakemont
(more discussion of the mixed-use trail to be constructed along Newport Way west of SR900)

5:05 Black Nugget Road Re-Opening

5:30 AB 5954 Operations and Maintenance Agreement

5:35 AB 5955 SQUAK MOUNTAIN TRANSIT – PWE WORK PLAN
(forwarded from Council, study of options for a bus on Squak)

5:45 AB 5956 SE bypass project record of decision– PWE WORK PLAN

5:55 I-90 Seismic Retrofit Project – WSDOT
(no direct impact to walk/bike/bus, but will affect the undercrossing of the East Lake Sammamish Trail (you may have noticed all the orange fences that just went up))

6:00 April CTC Meeting Schedule

The weather cooperated again on Saturday for six stalwart GAIT members who spent an hour and a half of their weekend pulling an unlikely number of bottles and candy wrappers and other detritus out of the little creek that runs past the community center along the trail. There was some stuff we couldn’t get to through all the brambles, but otherwise there’s a lot less garbage in the stretch from the start of the trail out past the skate park.

Here are some pictures (click for bigger versions):

I sent out email announcing this event only 13 hours before it was going to start so I didn’t really expect anyone else to come, but I was pleasantly surprised when Kate McWiggins joined Becky Brooks and me at 9am last Saturday to pick up trash along Front Street.

We spent about an hour and fifteen minutes and the three of us managed to clear all the unsightly leavings from the whole stretch along the east side of Front Street between Gilman Blvd and the center median of I-90 including a little ways down the eastbound onramp. This resulted in a big full bag that weighed probably 40 pounds. The folks at Stereotomy were nice enough to let me toss the bag in their dumpster for disposal.

We had a good time doing it and I’m looking forward to having more people for our next event. We’ll plan on the last Saturday of the month for these, so the next one is on February 28th. I’ll announce the location when it gets a little closer. If you have suggestions for an area that could use some attention, let me know!

Here are a few pictures:

No, this isn’t a dead site.

We had our first GAIT meeting of 2009 this past Wednesday and spent the time talking about goals for this year and who might want to take charge of them. Here’s a summary of what we decided.

Jeff Youngstrom will do and/or coordinate the following:

• Inventory of facilities
• Monthly (or more frequent) trash walks
• Web page improvements
• Attend Council Transportation Committee Meetings
• Table at appropriate community events

Barb Shelton will coordinate moving us toward 501(c)(3) status.

Bob Miller will do the following:

• Wednesday evening guided bike rides
• “Fix a flat” class or classes (details on the first coming soon!)
• possibly other classes

There was a lot of interest in working on Safe Routes to Schools, especially in connection to the planned redevelopment at Issaquah High School. We’d especially like to get parents of school-aged children involved in an effort to push this issue with the school district and the city. I can’t remember if one person was going to take responsibility for this, but Tina Anderson, Barb Shelton, Karen Behm, and Erik Schneider all expressed interest.

Karen Shively volunteered to become our parade coordinator for the year, so if you want to be in the 4th of July or Salmon Days parades, or have an idea for an entertaining entry in either focused on transportation, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with her.

Finally, Karen Behm had the idea that we should meet with our new Police Chief and discuss issues of common interest. If you have something transportation-related that you’d like to discuss with the police, give a yell and we’ll add you to the meeting or add your issue to our list.

Formerly known as the Issaquah Park & Ride, the new Issaquah Transit Center is going into operation on Saturday 5/31. Note this is not the garage, just the bays where the buses stop. The garage opens later this summer. Here’s the info from Metro:

There will be new boarding locations for Metro routes 200, 209, 210, 214, 269, 271, 927 and ST Express 554, 555 and 556 at the Issaquah Transit Center (formerly the Issaquah Park-and-Ride) located on State Route 900 between Maple Street and Newport Way. Starting May 31, passengers should board at the new transit platform located between the construction area and SR 900. Bus riders can still park at the Tibbetts Park-and-Ride south of Newport Way or in the interim lot on the west side of SR 900 until Sound Transit opens the new transit center garage later this summer.